Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

South Main boutique hotel moving forward

Expanded development planned for boutique hotel including former Leader Federal building.

Buy Photo

September 21, 2016 - The Memphis College of Art at 477 South Main is moving out and the building will be turned into a boutique hotel. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal)(Photo: Mark Weber, The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo

A California developer’s boutique hotel at 477 South Front should be under construction by the end of summer.

The Downtown Memphis Commission Design Review Board on Wednesday approved renovation plans for the old Lewis Supply Co. at Main and Butler. It was most recently the Memphis College of Art graduate school.

Arrive Hotels co-founder Chris Pardo said the hotel should take about eight months to build. It would join a hotel in Palm Springs, open for about 18 months, and properties under construction in Austin and Los Angeles.

The South Main project had to undergo design review because 477 Memphis Hotel LLC, an entity of Wessman Development of Palm Springs, won a property tax abatement in February. The project involves a $14.2 million conversion of 477 South Main and 484 South Front into a 62-room boutique hotel with two restaurants and 90 parking spaces.

Wessman retired from Wessman Development after the indictment, and the company said pending projects would go ahead as planned.

Pardo submitted an application and architectural drawings April 24. Pardo’s firm, Chris Pardo Design-Elemental Architecture, worked on various Wessman projects including an ongoing redevelopment in downtown Palm Springs.

Downtown Memphis Commission president Terence Patterson said the hotel is exactly what South Main needs. “This project is amazing. We need five or six more of these.”

Pardo said, “We’re super excited to have this historic building and bring it back to its glory.”

Pardo and Wessman Development also are working on a boutique hotel at 158-164 Madison, which includes the former Leader Federal Savings & Loan building; and renovation of 119 Madison for a bar, coffee shop and apartments. He said those projects probably will be ready for construction next year.